Savitribai and Jyotirao Phule

TOPIC: History

Context- Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has recently received flak for his remarks on the social reformist couple Jyotirao and Savitribai Phule.

Concept-

About Savitribai Phule:

Savitribai Phule (3 January 1831 – 10 March 1897) was an Indian social reformer, educationalist, and poet from Maharashtra.
She is regarded as the first female teacher of India. Along with her husband, JyotiraoPhule, she played an important and vital role in improving women’s rights in India.
She is regarded as the mother of Indian feminism.
Savitribai and her husband founded one of the first Indian girls’ school in Pune, at Bhidewada in 1848.
It was the country’s first school for women started by Indians.
She worked to abolish the discrimination and unfair treatment of people based on caste and gender.
In the 1850s, the Phule couple initiated two educational trusts—the Native Female School, Pune and The Society for Promoting the Education of Mahars, Mangs and Etceteras—which came to have many schools under them.
She published Kavya Phule in 1854 and Bavan Kashi Subodh Ratnakar in 1892.
- In her poem, Go, Get Education, she urges the oppressed communities to get an education and break free from the chains of oppression.
In 1852, Savitribai started the MahilaSeva Mandal to raise awareness about women’s rights.
She simultaneously campaigned against child marriage, while supporting widow remarriage

About Jyotiba Phule:

Jyotirao Govindrao Phule (11 April 1827 – 28 November 1890) was an Indian social activist, thinker, anti-caste social reformer and writer from Maharashtra.
His work extended to many fields, including eradication of untouchability and the caste system and for his efforts in educating women and oppressed caste people.
He and his wife, Savitribai Phule, were pioneers of women’s education in India.
Phule started his first school for girls in 1848 in Pune at TatyasahebBhide’s residence or Bhidewada.
He, along with his followers, formed the Satyashodhak Samaj (Society of Truth Seekers) to attain equal rights for people from lower castes.
Phule’s akhandas were organically linked to the abhangs of Marathi Varkari saint Tukaram.
Among his notable published works are:
- Tritiya Ratna, 1855
- Brahmananche Kasab, 1869
- Powada 1869
- Manav Mahammand (Muhammad) (Abhang)
- Gulamgiri, 1873
- ShetkarayachaAasud (Cultivator’s Whipcord), 1881
Phule was influenced by Thomas Paine’s book titled The Rights of Man and believed that the only solution to combat the social evils was the enlightenment of women and members of the lower castes.
It is believed by many that it was Phule who first used the term ‘Dalit’ for the depiction of oppressed masses often placed outside the ‘varna system’.
He was bestowed with honorific Mahātmā title by Maharashtrian social activist Vithalrao Krishnaji Vandekar in 1888.